Fairfax Financial Holdings has no plans to acquire BlackBerry, according to a statement from the investment firm to BNN Bloomberg.
BlackBerry stock rose on June 1 amid rumors Fairfax planned to acquire the enterprise security software provider. But Fairfax denied the rumors on June 2, stating to BNN: “Fairfax is not currently making a bid, or engaged in making a bid, for BlackBerry."
Fairfax ranks as BlackBerry’s second-largest shareholder, according to Bloomberg data, with an 8.43 percent stake and the software company.
BlackBerry Business Evolution, Cylance and MSSP Partners
Under CEO John Chen, BlackBerry has evolved from a smartphone and mobile device maker into an enterprise security software provider. The evolution includes acquiring Cylance in 2018 for artificial intelligence-driven endpoint protection software, and updating a North America Partner Program in March 2020.
More recently, BlackBerry unveiled Spark Suites to help customers address various cybersecurity and endpoint management needs. The company is also developing IoT (Internet of Things) security capabilities for new use cases -- particularly autonomous vehicles.
For its Q4 of fiscal 2020, BlackBerry's non-GAAP revenue was $291 million -- up 13 percent year over year, according to a March 31, 2020, statement from the company. BlackBerry is expected to report its latest quarterly earnings on June 24, 2020, Nasdaq says.
